Death penalty for fake product dealers

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has called for life imprisonment or death penalty for persons involved in the production and distribution of fake regulated products. The Director-General of the agency, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, who made the call when she responded to concerns over the unbridled circulation of suspected fake and substandard food and other regulated products across the country, described counterfeiters as “merchants of death.”

Not quite long ago, operatives of the agency uncovered the circulation of counterfeited products, including CWay water, Oral-B and Colgate toothpaste in different parts of the country. Consequently, NAFDAC mopped up 7,210 products during nationwide post-marketing surveillance operations between May and July 2026. In the same vein, the NAFDAC boss announced that the agency had arrested persons allegedly involved in the counterfeiting of CWay water, Oral-B and Colgate toothpastes.

The agency had secured 64 convictions against counterfeiters across the country. Some of the offenders were sentenced to between one and seven years’ imprisonment without an option of fine. The NAFDAC DG identified post-marketing surveillance as a critical component of NAFDAC’s regulatory mandate. “Its activities involve identifying products of regulatory concern, conducting inspections and surveillance visits, sampling products for appropriate assessment, investigating complaints and intelligence, removing non-compliant products from circulation and initiating appropriate regulatory action,” she said.

Instructively, about 80 per cent of the agency’s post-marketing surveillance activities are targeted towards detecting and curbing fake, falsified, substandard, adulterated and otherwise non-compliant products. Between May and July 2026, NAFDAC’s Post-Marketing Surveillance Directorate embarked on a routine proactive surveillance across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

During the exercise, not less than 5,738 facilities were visited and about 7,210 brands of products were mopped up across food, water, drugs and herbals, medical devices, vaccines and biologics, cosmetics, healthcare products and chemicals. Out of the entire seizures, food and water products accounted for the largest category, with 3,633 products, while drugs and herbals followed with 2,459. NAFDAC also destroyed and seized over N1.54trillion worth of fake and substandard regulated products in the country since 2023.

The consumption of counterfeited drug and food products has led to avoidable fatalities in the country. Recently, 29 persons died in Ondo State after consuming adulterated alcoholic drink. Scores of other victims were also hospitalised. About 500,000 deaths occur annually across sub-Saharan Africa due to counterfeit and substandard medications, with Nigeria bearing a significant portion of these fatalities. For instance, substandard malaria medications alone account for an estimated 267,000 deaths yearly across the region, while fake pneumonia antibiotics claim roughly 169,000 children’s lives.

As an import-dependent country, most of Nigeria’s substandard and falsified medications and other products enter the country from overseas, with key manufacturing and shipping origins traced to countries such as India, China, Pakistan, Egypt and Indonesia. Nigeria imports over 70 per cent of its consumed pharmaceutical products. This also makes it difficult to sanitise the inflow of fake drug products. Due to our porous borders, some of these fake products are smuggled through our over 1,894 unmanned land borders.

However, some of them are adulterated inside the country by local unlicensed domestic clandestine factories in collaboration with foreigners. The existence of open drug markets with massive distribution hubs in Idumota (Lagos), Onitsha (Anambra), Aba (Abia) and Sabon-Gari (Kano) has exacerbated the distribution of the substandard and unwholesome drug products. Some of these fake drug products are now marketed through unregulated online platforms in the country.

We deplore the menace of fake products in the country and call on NAFDAC and other relevant regulatory agencies to work together to rid the country of the adulterated, substandard and falsified products. The reported circulation of counterfeited CWay water, Oral-B and Colgate toothpaste products is condemnable. We enjoin the “merchants of death” to desist from this economic sabotage and stop endangering the lives of millions of Nigerians.

At the same time, we also urge owners of these products to embark on nationwide consumer education on how to differentiate the fake from the genuine products. This has become necessary considering the danger posed to consumers by the distribution of the fake products. The NAFDAC’s boss call for life imprisonment and death penalty for dealers of fake products should be given urgent attention in view of the dangers associated with consumption of fake drugs and food products in the country.

Before then, the agency should intensify its routine surveillance of facilities across the country, strengthen its regulatory functions as well as its consumer education and regularly update the public on its operations. Ridding Nigeria of fake and substandard products should be the duty of all Nigerians. Giving NAFDAC operatives adequate information will enhance their efficiency.